VATICAN CITY — The leaders of the
Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion have pledged to continue on a
journey of friendship despite serious obstacles which are blocking the path to
full communion.

But some observers openly question
if further progress towards unity is possible, given the deep divisions among
Anglicans.

The Anglican Communion is
currently at risk of becoming permanently divided over the decisions in some
Anglican provinces to ordain women priests and bishops, to ordain openly
homosexual men and to bless homosexual “unions.”

Wrapping up a six-day visit to Rome by the Anglican
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of
the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said Nov. 24 that the
Anglican delegation had shown its courage to overcome current problems and its
desire to continue dialogue with Catholics.

Speaking at the same Nov. 24 press
conference, Archbishop Williams said the visit had achieved all three of his
goals: to build a “real relationship” with Pope Benedict XVI, to confirm the
continuation of dialogue and to establish contacts with various Vatican offices
as part of a shared mission.

In a joint “Common Declaration”
signed Nov. 23, the Pope and Archbishop Williams said that with the historic
1966 meeting between then-Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey and Pope Paul
VI, “centuries of estrangement between Anglicans and Catholics were replaced by
a new desire for partnership and cooperation.”

“We celebrate the good that has
come from these four decades of dialogue,” the statement said. “At the same
time, our long journey together makes it necessary to acknowledge publicly the
challenge presented by new developments that, besides being divisive for
Anglicans, present serious obstacles to our ecumenical progress.”

Earlier at the Vatican,
Archbishop Williams and the Holy Father held “wide-ranging” talks in which the
Holy Father gave thanks for 40 years of dialogue that began “with great
promise.”

But Benedict also noted the
“strains and difficulties” confronting the Anglican Communion. The Pope
stressed that these internal divisions revolve around matters “of vital
importance to the preaching of the Gospel in its integrity” and added that the
Anglicans’ current discussions “will shape the future of our relations.”

Later that day, the two leaders
held a midday prayer service together in the Redemptoris
Mater Chapel before having lunch in the ApostolicPalace.

As the visit ended, the archbishop
and Cardinal Kasper announced a third phase of the Anglican and Roman Catholic
International Commission (Arcic), a theological
dialogue body, will begin in 2007. They also said a new document on shared
mission will be published next year.

Canon Gregory Cameron, director of
the Ecumenical Affairs Department of the Anglican Communion Office, said the
Anglican delegation welcomed the “honesty and frankness” in the discussions.

“The Pope didn’t pull any
punches,” he said.

But further advancement towards
unity may be difficult. While the joint document outlined what has been
achieved in 40 years of dialogue, it appeared to do little in terms of
reconciling the two churches with respect to their key differences on doctrinal
and moral issues.

And although it cited a number of
areas where Catholics and Anglicans can work together, it also advocated
collaboration to promote respect for life from conception until natural death
and to protect the sanctity of marriage — despite the fact that many top
Anglican leaders have consistently failed to condemn abortion and support
same-sex “marriage.”

“Before Anglicans can hold any
meaningful talks with us, they must first discover whether there is any unity
among themselves,” said Viscount Christopher Monckton,
a former Catholic newspaper editor and specialist in Anglican-Catholic
dialogue.

One Vatican
official familiar with ecumenical issues acknowledged that there are tremendous
strains on dialogue with the Anglicans. But a process now under way in the
Anglican Communion, grounded in the Anglicans’ 2004 Windsor Report, that seeks
to resolve the Anglicans’ internal differences “has the potential to strengthen
the Anglican Communion as a dialogue partner,” the official suggested.

Lord Monckton is not convinced.

“If the Anglicans do not believe
as we do in the Real Presence or in the sacramentality
of holy orders — and the Holy See’s observations on
the previous documents of Arcic show the differences
politely but clearly — then we still have no useful starting point from which
to build towards that unity for which our Blessed Lord prayed,” he said.

Others question whether closer
ties with the Anglican Communion, which has steadily moved away from the
Catholic Church’s moral teachings in recent decades, are actually in the
interests of the Church’s evangelical mission.

Father Charles Whittaker, an
English priest living in Rome who has extensive experience in ecumenical
relations with Anglican clergy, suggested it was time Catholics “stopped giving
the impression that we will ever find real agreement (with Anglicans) and
instead get on with having cups of tea together and holding joint soup runs —
anything else is going to end in tears.”

Canon Cameron, however, believes
that if the Catholic Church reverts to a pre-Second Vatican Council approach in
its dealings with Anglicans, it could injure its own Christian witness by
appearing uncharitable.

“There is a reality of our life in
Christ which enhances the lives you have as Roman Catholics,” he said.

But in the view of Lord Monckton,
while the Catholic-Anglican dialogue should continue, Catholics shouldn’t
harbor illusions that it will yield deeper unity so long as the Anglicans’
internal problems remain unresolved.

“It remains our duty to try to
work towards the unity for which our Blessed Lord himself prayed,” said Lord
Monckton. “But with the Anglican Communion about to blow itself into several
pieces, don’t hold your breath.”

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